I always wear leggings. They are fleece for winter so I am warm and capri length in summer. They’re flexible and comfortable, cheap and easy to wash, and I don’t get upset when my dog drools on me or when kids have sticky hands — but they now seem too casual for public display. What can I wear instead of leggings that are still comfortable and still have some style? – Char, Troy, Mich.
Karl Lagerfeld, the longtime Chanel designer and creator of many biting aphorisms, once dismissed sweatpants as “a sign of defeat.” It’s possible that if he were alive today, he’d say the same thing about leggings.
Long a gym and layering staple, leggings took on a new dimension during the Covid-19 lockdowns as our need for comfort clothing increased and Gen Y decided they were synonymous with pants.
And therein lies the problem.
Our clothes carry memories of the time they were worn. Putting it on can be like tasting Proust’s madeleine, sending you down a psychological and emotional wormhole and back into the mental space of an earlier moment. Leggings now have so many associations with those uncertain and frightening times when we were stuck at home and the future seemed to be on pause, that continuing to wear them (at least outside of training time) can make you feel just as stuck.
The way forward is to separate what you still love about them (their convenience, effectiveness, and affordability) from the garment itself. After all, these qualities are not just limited to leggings. They also exist in other clothes.
Indeed, a whole range of trousers has emerged that you could call ‘pants that feel like leggings, but look more polished’. They have a bit of stretch, an elastic waist, the kind of fabric that can be washed in the washing machine – and the cut of real trousers.
For example, I’m thinking of the Everlane Dream Pant, with built-in pleat and slightly tapered legs; the Eileen Visser Women’s Slim Ankle Trousers with Cuff at the Hem; and the Quince Ultra-stretch Ponte Bootcut Trousers. In both cases, it is the details – the seam, the finish, the silhouette – that fool the eye into thinking it is looking at trousers or the like, while the materials (ponte, a thick knit with some give, are a particularly good material). choice here) tricks the body into thinking it is wearing leggings.
This is such a popular phenomenon that it has even led to the revival of that ’80s and ’90s classic: stirrup pants. They’re about halfway between leggings and pants, and are loose enough around the calf and ankle not to look like tights, but stretchy enough to feel like one. And the time is ripe for them, given the current love for all things from the turn of the millennium.
While I personally have reservations about the style (underwire pants tend to make legs look like carrots), it has the approval of Katie Holmes, that unexpected trendsetter, who was photographed in New York just before Thanksgiving wearing a pair, along with a dark denim peplum top.
If they’re your favorite – maybe you’ve got a pair in the closet, left over from the last time they were in style, and want to test them out before investing in a new pair – update them by putting the stirrup over to wear your shoes. then put in boots, for example. That way they don’t make you look like a wannabe rider.
Then add a fitted jacket (see Hailey Bieberwho paired hers with a turtleneck and kitten heels) for a more business-like look. It might even have some legs.
Your style questions, answered
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa answers a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her at any time e-mail or Tweet. Questions are edited and condensed.
